


On Telepath Testing Regulations

by pallasite



Series: Behind the Gloves [170]
Category: Babylon 5, Babylon 5 & Related Fandoms
Genre: Backstory, Canon Compliant, Fix-It, Gen, Law, Psi Corps, Telepath Testing, Worldbuilding, telepaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:54:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23812627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallasite/pseuds/pallasite
Summary: How does Psi Corps do telepath testing? Who is tested, and who isn't? How often? Who is "monitored" by the Corps?The prologue ofBehind the Glovesishere- please read!
Series: Behind the Gloves [170]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/677654
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	On Telepath Testing Regulations

**Author's Note:**

> What is this series? Where are the acknowledgements, table of contents and universe timelines? See [here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10184558/chapters/22620590).
> 
> I also have an [ask blog](https://behind-the-gloves.tumblr.com/), a [writing blog](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/pallasite-writes), and a "P3 life" Tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/p3-life) with funny anecdotes. :)

I didn't expect to be writing this, but over the last week, I've now had two people talk to me about this, so... here we go!

As I explained in the last essay, the Corps no longer uses genetic testing to identify telepaths (as the government tried in early 2100s) because [it's totally not reliable](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23799127). There were many false positives and false negatives, and tens of thousands of people were _murdered or aborted_ on account of said tests (and bigotry).

It turns out that lots of normals carry the "genetic marker" and never develop telepathy, and thirty percent of telepaths don't have the marker. There is no single magic alien "telepath gene."

By the time Bester's growing up, ninety years later, this approach has long been abandoned. The only reliable testing method is to have one telepath identify another.

Now, backing up a bit, as I explained in the series of essays on what P-ratings mean, what constitutes (legal) telepathy and what constitutes "older senses" or something else is largely a [political and economic question](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23608996/chapters/56795773#workskin), not some rigid "truth" handed down from on-high. At its essence, the testing was set up, by normals, as a way to sort certain people into a separate (and permanent) social caste, for economic exploitation.

That's how they decided who would be considered legally a "telepath," and who would not.

(Even if there was a clearer genetic picture, it could never perfectly fit the social category, because the social category was invented and defined for _economic and political reasons_ , not because of some deeper scientific "truth".)

I keep going on about legal categories because that's how the Corps regulations are set up. If someone is not legally a telepath (if he or she doesn't have a rating), that person is legally a normal, and one set of laws and regulations applies. If someone is legally a telepath, on the other hand, an entirely different set of laws applies to him or her. And those laws and regulations apply to just about every aspect of life: for example, Earth Alliance law treats such people differently in [housing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10207466/chapters/22653818) and [employment](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10293074/chapters/22772363), and Corps has its own internal regulations concerning [marriage and reproduction](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23457157/chapters/56230819).

By "law," I mean an Earth Alliance statute, or law that results from Earth Alliance court rulings. By "regulations," I mean internal Corps rules that have the force of law, because the Corps, as I have explained elsewhere, is an [independent regulatory agency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_agency) of the Earth Alliance. (That's why the Corps' original name was the "Metasensory Regulatory Authority".) In 2156, it became independently chartered, and they changed the name. We're talking administrative law here.

So, the Corps is a regulatory agency, and has promulgated a whole bunch of internal regulations on pretty much everything that has anything to do with telepaths. If there's a complaint against a business teep, there are regs to handle that. If they need to investigate a crime against a telepath victim, there are regs for that. People want to get married? Regs. People want to move or change jobs? Regs. Kids coming into the Corps? Regs. Deathbed scans? Regs. Reproductive suggestions? Regs. Schools? Regs. Licenses? More regs!

This is usually handled by the vast administration that is the Corps, but it's sometimes handled by Psi Cops as well, depending on the situation. People see what Psi Cops do in the field, but **_the paperwork is intense, guys._**

(I wonder if getting into this will fascinate my readers or bore them to tears. Literally every time something happens in the Corps, the question should be, "what are the regs for that?")

So there are regulations about telepath testing.

The Corps has a local office in every major city, and some satellite offices both on and off-world. There is a Corps presence in every major children's hospital, and the Corps has some capacity to send people out to rural or remote areas to test children there.

Sometimes a family or school will call the Corps directly, like I showed in [Andy's story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10227857/chapters/22694822). In that case, only one tester might be available. But when the Corps does routine testing in a school, they usually send two people - that makes testing go faster, and it makes it less likely that the tester will be bribed or threatened into changing a result. The regs also don't send the same testers to the same schools year after year, again, so the testers are less likely to be bribed or threatened.

There's one test when children enter school (at about age five), and then regular testing each year through middle and high school (or the region's equivalent). There is no mandated testing after that point, though some people do develop telepathy later, as I show in [John's story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10268429/chapters/22741013). The only exception to this rule is in certain professions, e.g. law, where the employment contract could mandate yearly testing, as I show in [Josephine's story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10293074/chapters/22772363).

What happens after the test?

As I said above, the main purpose of the test is to sort people into two legal categories: "normal" and "telepath." Latent telepaths are legally _normals_. The Corps cannot mandate that they come back for any more testing than is already mandated under law - they must treat these children the same as any other "normals." Susan Ivanova wasn't "monitored" by the Corps - she is legally a normal. They couldn't insist she come in for more frequent testing. She had no trouble enlisting in EarthForce, either.

On the other end, there are the children who rate P3 or higher, and they usually join the Corps. (A small percentage might go on sleepers - if the regs allow it - but that's _extra special discouraged_ for children. It's more commonly chosen when someone already has a career in the normal world, and they're hoping to keep it.)

And then there's the people in between - P1s and P2s, who are _legally telepaths_ , but who rate too low in the Corps' own internal regulations to join the Corps. They are, however, still legally telepaths and still registered with the Corps, and the Corps does have jurisdiction over them in a way it doesn't for any legal normals.

This means they're usually monitored - the Corps can order them to have more frequent testing (say, twice a year instead of only once a year), to see if they develop stronger telepathy, and can keep monitoring them well into their twenties instead of having to stop at the cutoff for normals (probably around eighteen).

Again, it's not decided based on "who might develop stronger telepathy" - a "latent" with a telepath parent might be just as likely to develop stronger telepathy than one of these P1 or P2 kids. The issue is who is legally a normal and who is legally a telepath, so which set of laws/regulations apply.

It's always a question of the regulations. Take the case of when [Kaia runs away at fifteen](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10207466/chapters/22653818) (to get off sleepers and join the Corps). She's legally a minor. If she were seventeen (the age of majority in the Earth Alliance), she could join the Corps and her parents would have no say, but she's younger, and the Corps did not take custody when she manifested - the parents put her on sleepers.

I think somehow the Corps would make it work, because she's now a flight risk, and with her family's pending eviction, she's in real danger of being trafficked. A supervisor might also come to the conclusion that the parents never should have been allowed to put her on sleepers (because of her age, against her will, etc.) - there may be regs on that, as well, and they may not have been followed. The result comes down to whatever the regs say - I think the family's pending eviction would be enough for the Corps to allow her to stay, since she could be in so much danger if she stayed with her normal family and they became homeless. It would also be a pain to keep track of her location to continue her sleepers injections - and of course shelters may not permit telepaths - so that alone might be enough to keep her. If she were going to live with her aunt, she would have to go through the Corps anyway, to arrange for her injections there.

I should write a follow-up story for Kaia.

Meanwhile, going back to the testing regs, it's P1s and P2s who are monitored as children or young adults - like Lyta's mom. Sometimes they develop telepathy more strongly, but often, they don't, and are never formally "attached to the Corps."


End file.
